lou-kash

Have you installed the Helix Driver v1.0.9, or are you plugging the Stomp in as is? If no driver is installed, your Mac will switch to 48 kHz sampling rate when you plug in the Stomp. That might cause issues with some other 3rd party software. For more info about the driver see line6.com/software and select "HX Stomp" + "Drivers" + "Mac OS X" as filters above.

OS version? Helix driver version? HX Edit version? Stomp firmware version? (Questions, questions, questions…, to paraphrase FZ.)

I would strongly recommend to stop migrating immediately, downgrade your new MacBook to Catalina first, and then start migrating over again. Then make sure that everything runs as expected. Then wait a few months after at least two or three more Bug Sur bug fix updates have been released by Apple, AND after Line 6 has confirmed that all of their software is Big Sure compatible. Then you can still upgrade to Big Sur if you wish. For what it's worth, just over the weekend I was downgrading a buddy's brand new MacBook Air 2020 (Intel) to Catalina because he has accidentally clicked the "Upgrade" button. He doesn't use any Line 6 products though, so I have no direct experience with that. A downgrade is not a trivial task, but it's manageable, and it's definitely worth it if you don't want to run into audio incompatibility issues all the time. I was proceeding roughly by this guide: https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/downgrade-macos-3581872/#bootable Good luck…

Really? I knew they both changed ownership in the past decade or so, but that might explain their "common ground" in lack of support of "old" devices. (Alright, my Firewire 410 is from 2003 and that may eventually count as "old". But it still works 100%! With hacked drivers, that is. :) Anyway. That's exactly the reason why I'm working using an El Capitan partition: It is foolproof for critical missions. Catalina? Not so much. Big Sur? Hardly. Heck, I don't even own a Mac that can run Big Sur… (Did I mention "foolproof for critical missions" already?)

Like, you know, making fully functional audio peripherals "obsolete" after a few years because it's sooo "costly" to update the drivers to run on more recent versions of OS, after it already took them a few years to make them run stable in the first place? (Yes, I'm looking at you, Alesis, M-Audio, et al!)

I am Mac user, too, and nonetheless, in past 30+ years on Mac I have accumulated some basic programming skills. That can happen when you know what you want and you simply can't get it elsewhere. But of course: a Linux nerd could likely programm such an app while they sleep, haha… (Hm… thinking of it, I actually had quite a few good programming ideas for my FileMaker databases while lying half awake in bed. Never underestimate the power of the "work-while-you're-in-bed" concept! ;)

You can use something like https://convertcsv.com/json-to-csv.htm but it just converts the raw data to a flat table. Not necessarily very useful. You would need to program for example an XSLT stylesheet to transform the data into something more meaningful. Some time ago I've managed to set up a very rudimentary XSLT to convert CSV files to the ICS calendar format (aka iCal) by modifying an existing stylesheet without exactly knowing what I'm doing. It works, but that's about it, haha.

I'm aware of that. I just generally wanted to clarify that Helix 3.0 does work on El Capitan. :)

HX Edit 3.0 and Firmware 3.01 (HX Stomp here) run perfectly on El Capitan. And by "perfectly" I mean that unlike the previous version, HX Edit is now again able to connect to the line6.com server and log into your account. That wasn't possible before the update. The only thing that won't work reliably on El Capitan is the Helix driver 1.0.9. Use Helix Driver 1.0.7 instead! If there are issues, make sure to uninstall all Line 6 components from your Mac first, reboot, then reinstall.

And when everything else fails, search the Customtone… https://line6.com/customtone/search/?submitted=1&family=ALL+PRODUCTS&search_term=koto Although… that seems to be for the POD HD500, so you need to start from scratch anyway.

I would start experimenting with the Acoustic Sim block, a classical guitar IR, either the Deluxe or Rochester Comp, Parametric EQ, and a strong reverb. Some kind of chorus may often also add nice colors to the sound, too.

At first I was fooled as well until I duckducked it: audiorecording.me/advantages-of-64-bit-daw-over-32-bit-float-digital-audio-workstation.html Thanks, I haven't realized that. Just quickly checked in Logic, and indeed.

So, I've been experimenting with the HX Stomp tonight to get a fake bass sound out of my Les Paul. Only in headphones for now. Some findings: Poly Pitch gives me much better results than Poly Capo. Especially useful also because it can go beyond -12; my bass guitars are usually tuned D-G-C-F, whereas my guitar is either in E for one band, or in Eb for another band. So I can use snapshots to set the Poly Pitch either to -11, -12 or -13, depending on which tuning the Les Paul is in, and which bass guitar tuning I want to emulate. Acoustic Sim is pretty helpful to shape the tone at the beginning of the path, it can give it a more double bass feel. Two Deluxe Comps in action: one before the pitch, set to hard limiting to for a jazzy, almost fretless attack, another one at the end to glue the sound with a relatively soft compression. Deluxe Comp doesn't need much DSP, hence there's space for two. Del Sol 300 with 8×10 Ampeg as A+C, because that's the least DSP hungry bass amp with a flexible EQ built in, leaving enough DSP power for other blocks. Tried to implement Autoswell for a cello effect but… meh: it just doesn't work as I'd expect it to work, and so I lost patience after about an hour or so including forum search which confirmed my disappointment with it. Eventually settled on the Adriatic Swell delay (!) instead which can be turned into an autoswell as well. Vintage Swell or Auto-Volume Echo can be also used; the results are slightly different which can be a Good Thing™ on appropriate occasions. To make the cello effect more acoustic, I put the Amp on a parallel path in order to run the cello unaffected by it, using Split A/B to switch, and a Parametric EQ to shape the sound instead of Amp+Cab. Still got one block free. But only Gain or Volume to choose from now… :D As usual, block sequence matters. There are no definite rules, so I'm still shuffling around to find out what sounds better to me.

Hence my usage of quotation marks, because "Moderator" is what it says under his user name. Just as you are tagged as "Line 6 Expert" and me as "Members".

Could be a bug. Report it in the bug thread. Apparently not just there: Today I received a reply from a "Moderator" here in the Helix Bugs Reports thread, confirming my bug report.

? To run a submarine sonar through your Helix…? :)

Fair enough, that's the way to go. Except that it still doesn't work as it should. (I'm looking at you, HX Edit, still incapable of updating yourself!) As it stands right now, the website is still part of the user experience. And this part of the experience is not good. Heck, while Helix Native was on sale last week, I have decided to buy this "double-discounted" license to go along with my Stomp. But I wasn't able to proceed with the checkout, being taken to https://shop.line6.com/customer/account every time with no info how to proceed! Eventually I began to click on various parts of the page to see what happens. Coincidentally, after clicking on "Europe" at the bottom ("Worldwide" was active), I was finally taken to the checkout, being "allowed" to buy the software. D'oh. I'm a graphic designer by profession since 30+ years, with some experience and skills in HTML and CSS coding, as well as designing and administrating several Wordpress-based websites. So I definitely know that good interface design and good functional programming are two different things. You can write as an "elegant" and clever code as you want, but if your UX sucks, so will your website. line6.com is not the worst site I've ever used, and after the few months on here I can get along quite fine. But it's full of small annoyances that are adding up and that may put many less "techy" users off.

I remember reading something on the Disaster Area website that the device would need to receive the CC data. I don't know if it's even possible. Although, now that with v3 the Stomp can send MIDI data, who knows… For what it's worth, I have the DMC.micro which also has an EXP jack, but I found it doesn't work well with my modified (let alone UNmodified, for that matter!) Roland EV-5; see photo. Hence I'm using the EXP input of the DMC.micro with an external tap footswitch instead.

Apparently Windows – unlike MacOS – cannot create "aggregate audio devices" out of the box: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=aggregate+audio+device+windows Which is what you likely need if you want to use both devices simultaneously.

… or whichever balance of your amps you need: you may need to experiment with how much signal goes where and when. You may even want to assign other Level parameters to the same footswitch for more complex balance between the amps.

Assign the Route To parameter of Split A/B to the same Footswitch as the Sustain, with Min Route To: Even Split, and Max Route To: B100 Works for me, setting it up the same way as you did. (By creating an Aggregate Device from Mac Built-in audio and Stomp, with Main Out going to my MacBook via USB, and Send Out via patch cable into the MacBook's line-in minijack. But technically it's the same routing as if going directly to separate amps.)

Off the top of my head, this should do what you need if you use the Stomp's EXP1/2 jack: Global Settings > Preferences > Snapshot Edits > Recall Global Settings > EXP Pedals > EXP 1 (or 2) Position > Preset (or Global? I don't have the Stomp hooked up at the moment) I don't think it will work if you connect the expression pedal via Midi Baby. The Stomp would need to send MIDI CC back to Midi Baby first.

USB 3.x has at least fixed the data throughput issues on Mac. USB 2.0 on Mac was abysmal compared to Firewire 400, even though theoretically it should have been just as fast. That was particularly critical when using external hard drives for multitrack recording. My 2007 mobile studio setup was a PoweBook G4 (2005) and Alesis IO26 which has two FW400 ports. I could simply hook up a Lacie Firewire drive to the IO26's 2nd port and it just worked. I have never tried those. I guess they were slightly over my budget… The Alesis IO26 is brilliant for my purposes because it also has a phono preamp. In my studio I'm using it for digitizing vinyl all the time. In fact, the device just works as a mic/line/phono/headphones preamp without even pluging it into a computer, although you need to set up the clock and the channel routing via software first. Do they still manufacture stuff like this somewhere…?

In general, that's why I have always preferred Firewire for anything mission critical. Ah, Firewire was brilliant as long as it lasted… Actually it still lasts, haha: Just last week I had a recording session as a sound engineer with a children's choir. I'm still using a bunch of my "vintage" Firewire interfaces for mobile recording – Alesis IO26 from 2007 (I think), and M-Audio Firewire 410 that I bought in 2003 (!). The latter still works on El Capitan, after I have found some reverse engineered drivers online. I can create an Aggregate Device which then gives me either 10 mic channels or a total of 16 line channels – including the HX Stomp via USB and the MacBook built-in line input. It just works! Anyway… To be Corona-safe, I bought for this session a new 10 m Firewire cable – the 9-to-6 version, as both the Alesis and the FW410 only have Firewire 400. Yep, they still sell them. It. Just. Works. Amazing! [/offtopic]

I haven't actually used that one yet. Hm, I don't even remember where it is or which one it is. Likely somewhere in a box with dozens of other USB-A-to-B cables that I have accumulated through the past 2 decades. To connect the Stomp from the floor to the MacBook Pro on the shelf, I'm using a 1.8 m cable that apparently belonged to a scanner. At least that's what someone wrote on it. No idea where I got it from, it must be at least 10 years old. It's classified as "Hi-Speed USB Revision 2.0 Shielded" and has a magnetic ring on each end. It just works. Whereas that aforementioned long vintage cable has no magnetic rings and is one of those "transparent-iMac-ish" kind of design, i.e. transparent plastic.